After a body was found Monday morning on Horn Island, the family of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells say it is his.
“His father, our family, friends, and I are absolutely devastated,” Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, wrote on social media. “My heart [is] broken for my sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others. Nolan was a special soul. God took his time creating our son. I ask that you please give me and my family time to grieve.”
Wells was last seen on Horn Island, about 10 miles off the coast of his hometown of Ocean Springs, around 3 p.m. on July 4. The island was crowded with holiday boaters, and after the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department was notified that Wells may not have returned to the mainland, deputies and multiple partner agencies launched a search.
Around 8:45 a.m. Monday, a park ranger found a body on the northwest end of the island. Authorities did not immediately identify it as Wells, but Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd told WLOX-TV, “There is no reason to believe it is not him.”
Both the coroner and Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told the station that the body matched Wells’ description.
The search began after Wells’ mother reported him missing Saturday night. It involved the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the Gulf Islands National Seashore, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the United Cajun Navy.
In her social media post, Wonsley thanked law enforcement, friends, and community members who searched for her son for “love, support, [and] resources over the last few days.”
Authorities have not released a cause of death. Wells’ body has been transported to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Wells graduated from Ocean Springs High School and was a wide receiver on the Southwest Mississippi Community College football team.
